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Triple the Fun!

I am a big fan of the article The Last Gasp by Douglas Cole which expands the rules for fatigue and adds the concept of Action Points to provide action with a sort of ebb & flow. Theoretically, I really like the concept of Action Points, however, in reality, I found them to be a bit too “fiddly”. The one game that I used them in found the players managing them in what felt was an unrealistic way. They were trying to avoid an enormous cave lion that was running towards them, and they were counting hexes so they wouldn’t have to run fast enough to risk losing a Fatigue point, rather than risk their characters being out of breath when they reached safety. Now I realize that isn’t a particularly strenuous test case, but it left me somewhat dissatisfied with Action Points.

So came up with what seems like a workable and easy to use (if somewhat gamey) alternative. Whenever you roll triples in combat or a stressful non-combat situation, there is a chance you will accumulate a Fatigue Point.

Physical (includes psionics) rolls:

3 = No Fatigue lost, on a successful HT (modified for Fatigue) roll you regain a FP.

6, 9, 12, 15 = If roll succeeded then make a HT roll (modified for Fatigue), on a successful HT roll no FP are lost. On a failed HT roll you must spend 1d rounds taking either Do Nothing, Evaluate or Wait actions; or you lose 1 FP.
If the original roll was a failure you must spend 1d rounds taking either Do Nothing, Evaluate or Wait actions; or you lose a FP.

18 = You automatically lose 1 FP and make a HT roll (modified for Fatigue), on a successful HT roll no extra FP are lost. On a failed HT roll you must spend 1d rounds taking either Do Nothing, Evaluate or Wait actions; or you lose a extra FP.

Non-Physical rolls:

3 = No Fatigue lost, on a successful HT (modified for Fatigue) roll you regain a FP.

6, 9, 12, 15 = If roll succeeded then there is no effect. If the original roll was a failure you must spend 1d rounds taking either Do Nothing, Evaluate or Wait actions if in combat rounds, or 1d minutes resting if not in combat rounds; or you lose 1 FP.

18 = You automatically lose 1 FP and make a HT roll (modified for Fatigue), on a successful HT roll no extra FP are lost. On a failed HT roll you must spend 1d rounds taking either Do Nothing, Evaluate or Wait actions if in combat rounds, or 1d minutes resting if not in combat rounds; or you lose a extra FP.